Michael Joo

Michael Joo is a Korean-American contemporary artist born in 1966 in Ithaca, New York.[1]

Early life and education

Michael Joo was born into a Korean family in 1966. Joo's parents were both scientists. He studied Biology at Wesleyan University but felt disconnected with the subject. Joo practiced art in parallel while continuing his studies.[1] He graduated with a BFA from Washington University, St.Louis, 1989, and he later received his MFA from the Yale School of Art, in New Haven, Connecticut, in 1991.[2] Joo worked in Vienna, Austria, at a company that specialized in seed science.[1]

Art

As an artist, Michael Joo employs a variety of media such as: sculpture; painting; photography; and printmaking. His work reflects on identity, cultural heritage, and natural history.[2] Joo's work explores juxtapositions between multiple elements: science and religion, nature versus human intervention, reality against fiction, class within culture, and intentionality and accidents.[3]

“Single Breath Transfer”

“Single breath transfer” was an exhibit held from November 30 to December 31, 2017. Joo breathes into paper and plastic bags, capturing the ephemeral moment by freezing the bags with liquid nitrogen or wax. The work refers to a medical test that examines the lungs ability to convert oxygen from the surrounding atmosphere.[4]

“Still Lives”

This solo exhibition held in 2005 traces the artist's 18-day, 400-mile journey along the route of the Trans-Alaska pipeline.[4] The exhibition consists of life-size caribou sculptures hanging on a wall in a spiral formation with their bellies opened.[5] While images and videos of roads of mountain scenery and sculptures of caribous may reference the Arctic, he was also exploring number of philosophical ideas throughout the work. His works melds geometric and organic, interior and exterior by placing arranging different works into a single space and allowing the audience to experience everything simultaneously.[6]

“Visible”

“Visible” is a work of art that displays a headless, transparent buddha statue that is posed on top of a platform. The inside of the statue recreates of the insides of a human body. The materials used for this work were urethane, nylon, plastic, glass, walnut, and patinated steel.[7]

“Nunchakas”

Nunchakas is a work that describes an Asian weapon, nunchucks, that consists of two wooden clubs attached to each from one end to the other by a chain. Joo substituted the wooden parts using terra-cotta. On which a dense coat of green watercress was grown. This work juxtaposes destruction, growth and life. The overall work shows the idea of yin-yang, life and destruction.[8]

Selected Exhibitions and Awards

Solo exhibitions

2019: Project: Michael Joo, February 9, 2019 – March 16, 2019, Kavi Gupta Gallery, Chicago, US

2017: Michael Joo, Kukje Gallery, Seoul, KR

2016-2017: Perspectives: Michael Joo, Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC

(forthcoming) Michael Joo, La Galeria Carles Taché, Barcelona, ES

Seven Sins, Carolina Nitsch Project Room, New York, NY

2013: Michael Joo, M Building, Art Basel Miami Beach 2013, Miami, US

2009: Anton Kern Gallery, New York, US

Bodhi Obfuscatus (Allegiance), Chelsea Art Museum, New York, US

2006: Michael Joo, Rodin Gallery (Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art), Seoul, KR[9]


Group exhibitions

2019: Reason Gives No Answers: Selected Works from the Collection, Newport Street Gallery, London, UK

2016: Anyang Public Art Project, Anyang-si, KR

Still (the) Barbarians, Curated by Koyo Kouoh, EVA International Biennale 2016, Limerick, IE

Force of Nature (curated by James Putnam), Galerie Valérie Bach, Brussels, BE

2010: Have You Ever Really Looked at the Sun?, Haunch of Venison, Berlin, DE (with Damien Hirst)

The Infinite Starburst of Your Cold Dark Eyes, PKM Gallery, Seoul, KR

Dirty Kunst, Seventeen Gallery, London, UK[9]


Awards

2006: United States Artists Fellowship

2006: Grand Prize, 6th Gwangju Biennale 2006 (with co-recipient Song Dong)

2003: American Center Foundation Grant

2002: LEF Foundation

2001: Warhol Foundation Grant

2000: Joan Mitchell Foundation Painters' and Sculptors' Grant

1998: John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship[9]

References
  1. "ArtAsiaPacific: Devolution Michael Joo". artasiapacific.com. Retrieved 2020-04-08.
  2. "Michael Joo | artnet". www.artnet.com. Retrieved 2020-04-08.
  3. "Michael Joo | Artist Profile, Exhibitions & Artworks | Ocula". ocula.com. 2020-04-08. Retrieved 2020-04-08.
  4. "The Bohen Foundation". The Bohen Foundation. Retrieved 2020-04-08.
  5. "The Bohen Foundation". The Bohen Foundation. Retrieved 2020-04-08.
  6. Glueck, Grace (2006-01-20). "Art in Review; Michael Joo". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-04-08.
  7. "Blain|Southern Announces Major Solo Exhibition For Korean/American Artist Michael Joo". Artlyst. Retrieved 2020-04-08.
  8. Johnson, Ken (1999-06-04). "Art in Review". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-04-08.
  9. "MICHAEL JOO - Artist Biography - PKM Gallery". www.pkmgallery.com. Retrieved 2020-04-08.
  1. http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/art/2017/12/691_240775.html
  2. https://www.theartro.kr:440/eng/artnews/calender_view.asp?idx=1311&b_code=20
  3. https://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/20/arts/art-in-review-michael-joo.html?searchResultPosition=1
  4. http://bohen.org/project/michael-joo-circannual-rhythm
  5. http://bohen.org/project/michael-joo-installation
  6. https://www.nytimes.com/1999/06/04/arts/art-in-review-007927.html?searchResultPosition
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